Further on Gaelic
 

I came across this on a Gaelic forum (Foram na gaidhlig).
I thought it so true that I'm passing it on.

Quote from Leanne Hinton Berkeley University in the USA

More broadly, the loss of language is part of the loss of whole cultures and
knowledge
systems, including philosophical systems, oral literacy and musical
traditions,
environmental knowledge systems, medical knowledge and important cultural
practices and
artistic skills.
The world stands to lose an important part of the sum of human knowledge
whenever a language
stops being used. Just as the human species is putting itself in danger
through the destruction of species diversity, so might we be in danger from
loss of the diversity of
knowledge systems.


Tom

Further on Gaelic
 

Hi Tom,

I don't know about the loss of knowledge, but the loss of culture with
the homogenization of regional speech is a sad loss. I used to be able
to predict where a person was from by his speech, but with the
dispersals of WWII and the advent of television we are rapidly losing
the Southern drawl, the New England Ayeauh, the Boston Paack the Caar.
The New York Yoose Guys, the Midwestern Flattening, and the Southwestern
Slurring.
Each region once had a distinctive and interesting accent. I expect the
UK would be even more so with Yorkshire, East London and Wales as
examples.

Thanks Tom, for your note re the consequences of losing a language,
although Sanskrit and Gaelic might be the reverse of using a skew.
Easier to do than to say! :)


Turn to Safety, Arch
Fortiter


http://community.webtv.net/almcc/MacsMusings

Further on Gaelic
 

Arch wrote:

: Hi Tom,

: I don't know about the loss of knowledge, but the loss of culture with
: the homogenization of regional speech is a sad loss. I used to be able
: to predict where a person was from by his speech, but with the
: dispersals of WWII and the advent of television we are rapidly losing
: the Southern drawl, the New England Ayeauh, the Boston Paack the Caar.
: The New York Yoose Guys, the Midwestern Flattening, and the Southwestern
: Slurring.
: Each region once had a distinctive and interesting accent. I expect the
: UK would be even more so with Yorkshire, East London and Wales as
: examples.





Don't worry. By the best current estimates, there is more dialect
variation in American English than ever before. Some regional dialects
are becoming moribund or vanishing, but others are springing up
in their place, and most of the famous ones are remaining intact as well.
This has been documented by William Labov, and there's a very interesting
interview with him at NPR.org:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/s...toryId=5220090

And there are several video interviews with him at

http://www.youtube.com/results?searc...h_type=&aq =f



-- Andy Barss